I Only Want Your Child - Chapter 11

“It seems even you don’t know everything about that man, Miss Layla.”

“What…?”

My voice came out calmer than I had expected.

Layla was frowning as though offended.

She was probably confident that she knew Kallion better than anyone.

But, Layla.

You’re only seeing what you want to see in that man. You know nothing about what he’s really like.

That he’s a piece of trash who can sleep with a woman he has no feelings for without hesitation, and doesn’t even care when his own child dies.

I brought the teacup to my lips and savored it before slowly continuing.

“Don’t provoke me too much, Miss Layla.”

At my low voice, Layla frowned as though trying to discern my true intention.

Meeting her gaze, I smiled sweetly. It was the same false smile Layla often wore.

“I only want to live quietly in this estate, as though I’m here and yet not here.”

I leisurely traced the pattern on my teacup with my fingertips before looking steadily at Layla and adding,

“So don’t make presumptuous assumptions or provoke me with your pointless jealousy.”

Layla froze at the vicious warning that contrasted with my smiling lips.

She probably hadn’t imagined that the woman she thought foolish and naive would say something like this with a smile.

I leisurely watched her before slowly continuing.

“As long as Kallion keeps his promise to me, I don’t care if he rolls around with you in his office.”

At my explicit words, I saw Layla’s expression harden.

Seeing the woman who had always acted calm and composed, as though she had me completely figured out, make an expression like that brought me a strange sense of satisfaction.

I slowly set the teacup down on the table and crossed my legs leisurely as I looked down at her.

“Though I don’t know whether House Baldomer would approve of a daughter of Sorento, a house that amounts to little more than Baldomer’s lackey.”

It was a pointed remark aimed directly at Layla’s weakness.

As expected, I saw her tightly clenched fist tremble faintly.

That’s right, Layla. No matter how much Kallion cherishes you, you and I have clearly defined positions.

So, don’t you dare overstep your place.

Apparently my warning had gotten through to her, because Layla hid her trembling hands beneath the table and lowered her head.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding, Madam.”

At Layla’s stiff words, I wore an unconcerned expression.

“Is that so?”

At my curt reply, Layla rose and forced herself to bow.

“I’ve delivered Lord Kallion’s message, so I will take my leave now.”

I watched her leave almost as though she were fleeing, then turned my gaze toward the window with a bored expression.

Was this what it felt like to be the villainess who tore apart star-crossed lovers separated by differences in status?

A villainess…

If it meant seeing that child again, I could become not merely a villainess, but a demon.

I looked down without emotion at Layla walking across the garden below the window, then swallowed the tea that had gone lukewarm.

* * *

A demonic woman.

Kallion pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead.

Strangely, whenever he stood before that woman, Juliana, he lost his usual composure.

He hadn’t intended to break their promise. The thought of seeing her face had merely made him feel stifled, so he had planned to go in a little later.

But the moment Juliana slapped his secretary, Layla, something inside him had twisted.

He couldn’t tolerate a Heister laying hands on someone from his own house.

‘I could never get aroused by you, Juliana.’

And so, words twisted by irritation had slipped from his mouth, uncharacteristically.

But they weren’t lies.

There was no way his body would respond even if he shared a bed with her.

It would be an ordeal for both him and her.

If sharing a bed was merely for appearances before their respective houses, perhaps they could simply spend the night in the same room without actually having relations.

Kallion seriously considered proposing this arrangement to her.

But would she accept it?

She was the woman who had gone so far as to propose sharing a bed in order to somehow change his heart. She must be harboring the pathetic belief that if they joined their bodies, his feelings might shift even a little.

Would a woman like that really accept a proposal to merely spend the night in the same room without having relations?

Suddenly, he remembered the last thing Juliana had said.

‘As for your advice that I take a lover, I’ll give it some positive consideration.’

Ridiculous.

There was no way a woman who had flaunted her affection for him to an exhausting degree for ten years could meet another man.

It was obviously a bluff. She probably wanted him to become jealous.

Apparently, now that they were married, she intended to engage him in some sort of battle of wills, but that sort of tactic would not work on him.

There was no way his heart could ever be moved by a Heister. There was no way he could live as though he had forgotten the enemies who killed his mother.